


Unconscious

by PlasticMachine



Series: Whumptober2019 [10]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, M/M, Slight Violence, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2019, no sburb session
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-04 00:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21188516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlasticMachine/pseuds/PlasticMachine
Summary: John is in a coma, his husband waits by his bedside with little hope that John will wake... but he can't give in.





	Unconscious

The high pitch but steady beeping of the heart monitor.

The deafening silence that follows with each beat.

The stale hospital air.

The sweat dripping down John's forehead. 

The blinding fluorescent light above their head that doesn't even fully light the room.

The hospital be that John is resting in.

Three days have past since the accident. 

Everyday that passes Dave's heart breaks for his sleeping lover.

But there is still a shred of hope, so he can't leave.t

Dave comes back each day to endure the torment of thinking about the car crash that took John away from him. The crash that took John's independence away from him too...

Dave knows the nurses have to wash him, have to move his limbs for him so he doesn't get bed sores... There's two bags filled with his waste and John has to be fed through a tube.

It's just a part of the whole charade, a part of the slow and painful waiting game.

John's quite the jokester actually...

What was the saying...?

Tragedy plus time equals comedy?

That's very fitting for the two of them...

Only Dave isn't laughing or smiling, or eating well or sleeping well...

Dave starts bumping his knee up and down as he messes with his thumbs.

He's impatient.

John knows that, he's keeping his husband waiting for days now.

Days turned to months.

Month... to years.

It's been three years now, there hasn't been a day that Dave hasn't drove out to the hospital to visit John.

It's practically a ritual. All of the nurses know Dave by name.

Dave started talking to John about a week in though, telling him things that there friends are off doing...

Places they are visiting.

Dave always wanted to see the world with John at his side.

He's still hoping that he can, he knows that once John wakes up he's going to have to take some time to recover before they can do anything.

Walking probably is going to be a challenge for him, John lost a lot of weight too.

Dave doesn't mind if he has to carry him, or that he has to roll John out in a wheelchair.

Dave smiles at the thought of John waking up, Dave tells his husband all of the things he knows that John is going to say when the time comes...

John's going to be so pissed that he slept through three years of their marriage.

Dave whispers to John, "I know you're just going to wake up and say something like _aw man! I missed three anniversaries!? I didn't get you a gift for three years and you still stayed with me?!"_

Dave chukled. He sighed, "something... cute like that."

Dave bite his lip, he could feel drippings slowly emerge from his nostrils.

He wipes his nose on his sleeve.

Dave can't cry now. He hasn't cried since he heard about the car wreck.

He promised John he wouldn't cry over him... why would he mourn John when he's alive?

John's right here.

Dave ignores the tears welling in his eyes, he looks away from John for a moment.

He needs to push the thought out of his head.

_John's not dead._

_He's right here._

_John's not gone..._

Suddenly, Dave hears a few loud beeps.

A nurse calls the doctor in while another nurse comes in to tell Dave to step aside.

Dave lets them work, they need the space but he still doesn't want to leave the room.

Dave tucks himself away to the furthest side of the room, closest to the door.

It's pitch black outside, if anyone is looking at the mirror they can see Dave's reflection, like it's a mirror. No one does. Everyone is to focused on stopping John from choking on his feeding tube. Pulling it out as they assess what is going on.

"It's not a heart attack, it's a seizure." The doctor tells the nurses. She looks over John. "Did it just start?" She asks.

"Yes, his heart rate just went up about two minutes ago." A nurse nods.

"If it lasts more than five minutes we're going to act," The doctor replies, she tells the other nurse, "for now get me lorazepam."

A nurse quickly rushes over to the cabinet besides Dave, she looks at him and flashes a concerned half-smile. She lets Dave stand their without saying anything, she continues searching for a small capsule of pills.

She walks back over to the doctor who at the moment is looking at her watch. Timing John's seizure. Discerning if she should take action or let it subside on its own.

Dave steps forward slightly, looking at his husband as he tosses and turns in bed. 

John's head is drenched in sweat. 

He's fighting his own mind.

John's eyes are slightly open, the seizure preventing his lids from closing. 

John takes a deep breath. Gasping for air.

John's eyes shoot open completely.

Struggling to comprehend where he was, and why his throat was killing him.

Is he in the hospital?

What happened?

Why are all of his limbs so sore?

Why is he drenched in sweat?

"John!"

John just heard his husband's voice.

Dave sounded like he was choking back tears.

John... got... into a car wreck. He did.

_Oh God. Dave must be so worried._

"Da-" John coughed. His throat was so scratched up and he didn't know why.

Dave rushed up to John's side. The nurse next to John's side stepped aside so Dave could be face-to-face with John.

John looked up at his husband, Dave was covering his mouth with his hand. Shaking.

His eyes were filled with tears. John wanted to tell Dave not to cry, but he couldn't stop hacking.

The doctor leaned over John's bed, she asked John is he needed some water.

John nodded.

One of the nurses rushed out to grab him a paper cup.

The doctor started to preformed a few test on John in the meantime.

Squeezing John's arms and legs, seeing if he could feel them.

John noted that they felt sore, she told him that was to be expected.

Dave watched the entire time, praying to himself that it isn't a dream.

It must not be, in his dreams John usually isn't so sweaty... and he doesn't reek like he ran ten marathons in a row.

John made a joke about how he looks as bad as Dave must feel.

Dave laughed through his tears.

John was trying so hard to lift Dave's spirits, but all Dave needed was to know that John was okay.

John took the water from the nurse that rushed in.

He gulped the whole thing down in one aggressive sip. 

"Do you remember your name?" The doctor asked John.

"John Egbert-Strider." He nodded.

"Good." She nodded. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"A... truck swerved on the road and and I moved to avoid it... then glass just sprayed everywhere-" John started coughing again.

"Sorry about the discomfort. You started having a seizure. You're feeding tube was still-"

"Wait-" John's voice was still hoarse. "Feeding tub-- how long was I out for?" John turned his head to look at Dave.

One of the nurses answered, "a little over three years... but your husband's been stopping by to see you every single day."

Another nurse chimed in, "Dave hasn't missed one."

"We can talk more after we finish the tests." The doctor gained back John's attention. She lifted up a small flashlight, "I need you to look into this light, now follow my finger with your eyes."

John did it to the best of his ability, but his eyes were welling up with tears.

The doctor pocketed her flash light as John began to cry,

"Da-dave."

The doctor stepped away, gesturing for all of the nurses to do the same.

John wrapped his arms around Dave. The heart monitor still attached to one of his fingers.

"Hey." Dave pulled away to see John's face. He brushed his hand across John's cheek. "Don't cry."

"How am i not supposed to?!" John choked out the words. "God. I'm... I can't believe I put you through this!" John started sobbing.

"No.. nooo." Dave grabbed onto John, lifting his back up and wrapping his arms around him. "It's not your fault."

John pressed his face into Dave's chest, sobbing. 

Dave continued talking in attempts to cheer him up. "Look on the bright side, baby. We have so much to catch up on now."

John continued sobbing, his husband's attempts to cheer him up are only making him feel worse, Dave is so kind to stay by his side. John owes Dave his... his... everything.

"I can't ever make this up to you." John keeps sobbing. 

"You can, man..." Dave pushes John's chin up so he could kiss John's forehead.

Dave whispers, "you just did."

Dave looked at John, he noted that John probably can hardly see him without his glasses on. Dave fumbled around his jacket, he's been carrying John's glasses on him for years now. 

He slides out John's glasses case and opens it. Pulling out his specs and placing it on his face. Like sleeping beauty just woke up and the princess is getting her tiara. 

"I haven't seen you in your glasses in years." Dave chuckles. 

"Oh God... I bet these haven't aged well." John laughs. John tries his best to hold off his tears, "I bet I missed... so much."

"The fun part about it..." Dave smiled, trying hard to keep himself from crying, "we get to catch up on all the things you missed... Shit. We need to call your dad."

"John," the doctor intervened. "Call your dad but don't over exert yourself right now."

"She's right," Dave tells him. "let's just make the call quick." 

"God... that's so much to ask of my dad." John shakes his head. "Hardly getting to talk to me... after all this time."

"You know," Dave tried to cheer John up, holding onto his hand with both his fists, "he's going to be so psyched. He's going to weep like a bitch just like us, but he's going to be so. hyped."

"God," John shakes his head. "I was so worried things would have changed. You sound exactly the same. Same goofy... cursing sweetheart I was driving home too see."

"Hey, you married me." Dave joked.

"Best choice of my life apparently." John shrugs as he lays back down in bed. He feels exhausted over waking up like that. John sighs and rests his eyes for a moment.

Dave continues to hold onto his hand, happy to see John actually rest by choice and not because he's in a coma.

John opens his eyes again.

John glances over at Dave. "Call my dad, please."

"Oh. No problem." Dave smiled. He dug into his back pocket to tell his dad-in-law the good news. "Hey man, guess who's up?"

John smiled as he heard muffled yelling coming out of Dave's phone.

"Okay, just don't yell in his ear." Dave hands the phone over to John.

John smiles at all of the nurses peering into the room.

"Looks like I have fans." John whispers to his husband.

"They're your cheer squad." Dave admits. "Just talking to John, yeah I'll hand the phone over. But you need to calm down first." Dave tells his dad-in-law. "No you're still screaming."

John laughs. Dave hands him the phone.

John's voice is still hoarse as he says, "hi dad." 

"Son." Mr. Egbert is trying to keep his voice down, but he's just so excited to hear back from John. "I am so proud of you, you picked the best husband you possibly could. He's been by your side everyday-"

"I know, the nurses told me." John smiled.

"From what I've seen and what I've heard, Dave came by and told you all about what your friends are doing and oh- oh, they are going to be so excited to see you again. Did Dave tell you Rose is married?"

"She is?" John's eyes widened. "Oh wow! I missed so much!"

John looked over at his husband, "did you bring Rose a wedding gift from the two of us?"

"I did-" Before Dave could get out what it was John slapped himself in the face.

"I missed **three** anniversaries! Ugh! I didn't get you _anything!_ **_For three years?!_ **And you _still_ stayed with me!?

Dave started laughing and gesturing for John to simmer down, "If you don't relax your doctor is going to confiscate my phone."

"How am I supposed to calm down?" John asks. "I feel like such a jerk! Missing your birthday, Christmas... plus you're bro is going to slaughter me for making you worry so much. And Jade is going to slap me senseless for making_ her_ worry so much!" John laughs, coughing from how much his throat is hurting him.

"John." John's dad calmly tells him, "you shouldn't overexert yourself right now."

"I'm not." John replies. 

"You're beating yourself up." Dave points out. "Don't worry so much about everyone else for now, worry about getting better."

"I am better." John gestures to his person. "I'm up."

One of the nurses laughs. John looks over to her and smiles. 

"I'm going to go, dad." John tells him. "I have to make some more calls and I want to get to know Dave's friends after."

"Alright, and son. I'm so, so proud of the both of you." Mr. Egbert tells John, "Dave has been the son I needed these past years."

John smiles sweetly at those words. "Thanks, dad. I'm sure you were what Dave needed too. Goodbye, I love you."

"I love you too." John's dad says as the two of them hang up.

John hands the phone over to Dave.

"Call Jade next, I can get maybe five minutes of rest while you try to calm her down."

All of the nurses and the doctor quitely and bubbly laugh as John lays back down. 

Dave puts in the call and after a few rings, Jade picks up.

"Hey Jade, guess who's up?"

Dave quickly pulls the phone away from his ear.


End file.
